Quiz Quiz Trade!

Last Fall,  I got to attend a surprisingly interesting inservice on great math strategies to use in the classroom!  Many of the ideas were based on Singapore Math and I learned so many new ideas to try with my kiddos!

One neat thing that the presenters introduced us to was a cooperative learning game called "Quiz Quiz Trade."  

Here's how it works:  

--Students are given some type of flashcard (or manipulative)

--Teacher says "Stand Up, Hand Up" and students get up, put their hand up, and find a partner.  

--Partners high five each other, and immediately stand back to back.  

--When everyone is ready, the teacher says "Quiz Quiz Trade." 

--Partners turn to face each other, and students take turns "quizzing" each other using their flashcard. 

--After praising their partner for success, or helping them discover the answer....students "trade" cards.

--After trading, students put their hand back up and head off to find a new partner.  

--When all students are back to back, the teacher will say "Quiz Quiz Trade" and the process begins again.  

As I was listening to how QQT worked....I was already mentally doubting whether or not it could successfully be done with Kindergarten kids.  I could just imagine my 20 kids running around the room, hitting each other in the face while trying to over zealously high five each other.  LOL  

Even with my doubts, I decided to give it a try.  Learning ways to make 5 became the focus of our first Quiz Quiz Trade attempt!  

Each student was given a ring made out of a pipe cleaners and 5 beads.  

Students put their "hands up" and began looking for a partner.  Having their hands up makes it easy for them to see who is available to partner with!

     

When they found another friend with their hand up, they gave a "high five."  Before beginning, I modeled this part....and my students practiced over and over.  I am happy to report that all high fives were done appropriately and safely.  :-)

Next, the partners turned and stood back to back.  Having students stand back to back allows the teacher to easily see when everyone is paired up and ready.

 When students heard me say "Quiz Quiz Trade!" they turned to face one another.   In this instance each student quizzed their partner by asking  "How did I make 5?"  Each partner had to look at the ring and answer the question (4 and 1, 3 and 2, etc.).  After answering...they traded rings, put their hands up, and began looking for a new partner.  

Let me tell you!!!!!!!!

I was TOTALLY WRONG about Quiz Quiz Trade!!!   My apprehension was completely unfounded and my students did so well with this activity.   Of course, I modeled and they practiced each part of the activity before we actually did it as a whole group.  But the time we spent practicing really paid off, as we were able to do this activity without a whole lot of issues at all!!  

I can see QQT being something that we use a lot in the future!  Just think of all the things you could introduce or review using this activity......letters, sounds, sight words, color words, rhyming words, CVC words, etc. etc.  The sky is truly the limit....and this is something that could easily be adapted for older students as well!!!

Have you used Quiz Quiz Trade in your classroom?  If so, how did it go?  

If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it!  My kids loved it so much that they begged to do it again the next day.  Seriously.  They BEGGED to play a game that helped them learn.  How could I possibly say no to that???